Sunday, May 11, 2008

Does This Jump Make My Butt Look Big?

Two jumps into my first run after a 2 month layoff I managed to bring down a jump standard plus wing with my big ol’ butt. At least I think that’s what happened. Cody took the first 2 jumps and went sailing of into the hinterlands rather than doing the nice tight wrap I was hoping for. In an attempt to bring him back to my general location I crashed into the jump while running the opposite direction from which I was looking which I think was backwards. This is not recommended standard agility practice. I’m pretty sure none of the fancy new fangled handling systems have this move. The run didn’t get any better from there. I’m pretty sure that this time we did have every single possible mistake you can have, including a knocked bar. Cody was running around crazy again and there’s not much I can do about him when he gets in that state. The good news is that was our worst run of the trial.

Next run up was master gamblers where he ran very nicely in the opening, hitting all contacts and listening to me perfectly, then showed off his crazy mad distance skilz and pulled off the gamble. Good enough for a Q, 1st place and his master gamblers title. Only 3 dogs in all of Performance Q’ed and Cody had the most points of all, plus I had done the dogwalk 3 times because I had sort of forgotten my course so time wise we could have had even more points but somethin’ happened that got me off my course or maybe Cody decided he wanted another shot on the dogwalk ‘cause he’s like that sometimes. Then he got another Q in Grand Prix. 5 faults for running past the weaves, an ongoing problem. It was an easy weave entry too, I think it was a stress issue because he was headed right for the poles until I said ‘weave’ then he took off for the hinterlands again. Did the same thing at Nationals plus took an off course jump on the way back. We’ve been practicing weaves nearly every morning, all kinds of crazy entries, distance, what have you. Oh well, another Q but fourth place won’t earn us a bye to the finals at Regionals. Yeah, o.k., you can laugh but Lola won 2 a couple of years ago so you never know. Those were all my classes for Saturday and I was glad. My foot hurt after my very first run and by the time I got home I was very happy to be able to put my foot up with an icepack and down some Vitamin I. I had my bike with me which proved to be a huge help but still it was a bit much on my foot. Today it feels fine but that could be the Ibuprofin talking.

Sunday looked promising for a Super Q for Cody. The course was perfect for him, all jumps & tunnels plus they ran Perf. first so it was nice & cool. I wussed out and opted for two 7’s and a 6 instead of three 7’s since the former option was a much nicer flowing course. In the end my strategizing didn’t matter because Cody decided the 4 provided an even more flowing course to the closing (he was right) then he came out of the #2 tunnel too wide and took an off course jump. The Super Q's went to teams that went for all 7's so we would have been out of it anyway. I need to go for it on courses with only 3 reds and just jumps/tunnels.

He redeemed himself in standard though with an almost excellent run good enough for a Q by the skin of our teeth and 2nd place. He refused to lie down on the table at first and I knew it would be a problem because he came onto the table facing the crowd. I guessed it might freak him out and I’m supposing it did. I finally got him to lie down by putting my hand in my pocket and pretending he was going to get a treat. He eventually laid down but he’d wasted a ton of time. We made course time by less than a second. Didn’t feel like it should have been a Q but then there are all those that feel like Q’s that you don’t get so oh well, we’ll take it. Those standard Q’s are tough to come by.

He now needs 1 Standard Q, 2 Pairs Q’s and those 3 dang Super Q’s for his Perf. ADCH. Anybody know of a trial with triple Snooker?

Poor Lola was completely shut out this weekend and it was all my fault. I couldn’t seem to get in sync with her and mishandled all her runs. Most disappointing was Grand Prix since it was a fast fun course, perfect for Lola and I cued a turn too soon pulling her off a jump and sending her off course I think. I wish I could give her Cody’s Grand Prix Q because so far she doesn’t have one to qualify for Regionals. One more chance to qualify locally next weekend then maybe one more in June if we decide to go to Utah. It’s funny, in 2006 she had something like 5 Grand Prix Q’s and 2 were first places. She hasn’t had one since 2006 though. She was out with injuries and I’ve been out but still. I’m going to practice with her this week to try to get my handling down with her, nearly all the errors were handling problems. Our only non-handling problem was the table. She refused to lie down on the table at first on Sat., I finally got her down and she popped up after 3 seconds then refused to lay back down. I tried but she looked so stressed I thought it was unkind to keep trying so we went on. Then Sunday she refused to lie down at all. Again, she was facing the big crowd of people & dogs and she was so freaked out. I tried laying her down next to the table which she did no problem then got her on the table in hopes she’d lay down so I could take her out and reward her but no luck. Finally I pulled her from the ring. I’d wasted so much time working on the table I didn’t feel right continuing on with the course plus I didn’t want her to think she could refuse to down then I’d let her go on.

There were some interesting weather challenges on Saturday with cloudy cold weather (way too cold for lucky paw print socks) and high winds that went on all day. At one point we had a little hail storm. Then there was the very loud mariachi band that started up during the Grand Prix. I prefer the cool cloudy weather to hot weather and I bundled up well enough that I can’t say I was ever that cold, and I’m always cold but plenty of people were complaining. The wind didn’t bother me that much but I think it grated on many people’s (and dog's) nerves, esp. after many hours of it. I think my problems were due to being to out of practice but I suppose I can’t discount the conditions. The courses were really nice, fast & flowing with challenging bits thrown in then more running. They’re normally the sort of courses that are perfect for my dogs but since my running was iffy they were a bit more challenging for me. I think part of the reason I had such a hard time with Lola was that for all but one run she ran second of my 2 dogs so I was tired and my foot hurt by the time her turn came around. I couldn’t quite keep up and be where I wanted to be, very frustrating for me. I can’t wait until my foot is properly healed. Still, overall it was fun and way better than moping on the couch. And boy am I glad I didn't sign up for that DOCNA trial in 2 weeks, there's no way I could handle all the running those courses have.